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Preparing for SharePoint Hub Sites

Silver Contributor

Microsoft has now formally announced SharePoint Hub Sites via the Message Centre. Microsoft promotes ‘SharePoint hub sites to organize concepts, teams, divisions, or resources throughout your businesses.’

 

The great overview by @Mark Kashman here https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/SharePoint-Blog/SharePoint-hub-sites-new-in-Office-365/ba-p/1... bears repeated review. 

 

Hub Sites are potentially a bigger game changer then they might first appear. Their utility is their simplicity removing a rigidity sometimes experienced in SharePoint classic site hierarchies. 

 

Microsoft has smartly paved the way for Hub Sites since the original announcement at Ignite 2017. We now know rollout will commence late March to be available to all organisations by the end of May 2018.

 

Microsoft has committed to several resources during the rollout phase and customers need to prepare  to deploy and manage the next ‘building block’ in modern SharePoint. 

 

Analysing current Team and Communication Sites and how they will attach to Hub Sites is now timely.

 

New Sites or converting existing Sites to Hub Sites? Reserving names for Hub Sites? Lifecycle management of Hub Sites from creation to deprecation. Ownership includes running aspects of UX and search design which can be imposed (or not) on associated SharePoint Sites. There is a prep list.

 

If you haven’t time to consider Hub Sites yet they are an optional feature but I’d certainly expect early adopters in your organisations to be eager to make a start.

 

So read up, form some ideas, a few rules and let’s get ready for another step on the modern SharePoint journey!

 

 

 

5 Replies

Strange that after all this time/lead-up there isn't more detailed documentation about Hub Sites.

 

It is unclear, for example, about whether or not Hub Sites can be created outside Powershell.

Reading through Mark’s entries on this community and the Message Center I read it that new sites can be created as Hub Sites but existing Team and Communication Sites would need to be migrated to become Hub Sites via PowerShell.

 

Since Hub Sites are optional a customer can take more time in rolling them out once the documentation is available. I think the effort in deploying Hub Sites is considering how to use them effectively. 

best response confirmed by John Wynne (Silver Contributor)
Solution

Thx, John.

 

We're working on hub sites Targeted Release very soon. As you noted, the message center post went out last week as a heads up to Office 365 admins.

 

We’re glad to see you’re excited for the coming SharePoint hub sites. Everything we have to date has been updated in this disclosure blog post (which also links to a webinar we gave around the same time): https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/SharePoint-Blog/SharePoint-hub-sites-new-in-Office-365/ba-p/1....

 

And soon we’ll have an updated “launch” blog to announce Targeted Release, links to all new documentation (which for any feature don't typically publish until Targeted Release begins; these will cover how to set up and configure them), plus a webinar to showcase it along with a broader intranet planning and strategy with Sue Hanley, Sam Marshal and myself on Mar.28.2018, “Intranet Strategy & Planning with SharePoint Hub Sites & Office 365”: https://collab365.community/events/intranet-sharepoint-hub-sites-office-365/. We're also working on a fast-follow "intranet planning guide" which is a culmination of guidance from our engineering teams, a key MVP in this space, and yours truly - we'll make noise when this is avialable.

 

Lots to come, and we’ll be engaged throughout roll out, beginning with answering any open questions during a planned (but not yet announced :-)) AMA on Mar.23.2018 within the SharePoint portion of the MS Tech Community: http://office.com/sharepoint/community.

 

Typing fast, working to address all. Keep the feedback and questions flowing...

 

Thanks,
Mark

Many thanks for your detailed reply Mark. Always appreciated. Thanks

New Sites or converting existing Sites to Hub Sites? 

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The message in message center has a reference to PS cmdlet:


When this feature is made available to your organization, you will be able to convert existing sites into hub sites by using the SharePoint Online Management Shell (PowerShell for SharePoint in Office 365), and the following cmdlet: Register -SPOHubSites https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Communications - (where ‘Communications’ is the existing site you would like to convert into a hub site).

 

However, no further details on this cmdlet. Adding my questions to this thread:-)

Can we convert any site to hub site (any being classic publishing sites, classic team sites)?

Can we convert tenant root site as hub site?

 

 

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by John Wynne (Silver Contributor)
Solution

Thx, John.

 

We're working on hub sites Targeted Release very soon. As you noted, the message center post went out last week as a heads up to Office 365 admins.

 

We’re glad to see you’re excited for the coming SharePoint hub sites. Everything we have to date has been updated in this disclosure blog post (which also links to a webinar we gave around the same time): https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/SharePoint-Blog/SharePoint-hub-sites-new-in-Office-365/ba-p/1....

 

And soon we’ll have an updated “launch” blog to announce Targeted Release, links to all new documentation (which for any feature don't typically publish until Targeted Release begins; these will cover how to set up and configure them), plus a webinar to showcase it along with a broader intranet planning and strategy with Sue Hanley, Sam Marshal and myself on Mar.28.2018, “Intranet Strategy & Planning with SharePoint Hub Sites & Office 365”: https://collab365.community/events/intranet-sharepoint-hub-sites-office-365/. We're also working on a fast-follow "intranet planning guide" which is a culmination of guidance from our engineering teams, a key MVP in this space, and yours truly - we'll make noise when this is avialable.

 

Lots to come, and we’ll be engaged throughout roll out, beginning with answering any open questions during a planned (but not yet announced :-)) AMA on Mar.23.2018 within the SharePoint portion of the MS Tech Community: http://office.com/sharepoint/community.

 

Typing fast, working to address all. Keep the feedback and questions flowing...

 

Thanks,
Mark

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